Talk Of The Town
by Celestial Night
Summary: [SetoSerenity]As the camera lights flashed like fireflies in her eyes, she took his hand and walked out of the limo. They're all looking at me, she told him. Stick with KaibaCorp, and they'll never stop, he spoke back.


Ok…I actually updated this fic. It's been waiting a while to be updated, so here you go.

Yes, I know, "Really and Truly" and "I Wish I May" are still incomplete, but I'm lacking inspiration for them at the moment. I am, however, writing their chapters anyway. It might just take some time to complete them, that's all.

**Summary:** Desperately needing to get KaibaCorp to number one again, Kaiba enlists the help of the best model around, who just happens to be Serenity Wheeler. The opening of Kaiba's newest arena is coming, but all Kaiba and Serenity can care about are the feelings that were definitely not part of the contract.

-

-

-

"What do you mean we're _second_ best?"

Mokuba Kaiba stopped the urge to sigh as he looked at his brother from across the desk. He was in no mood to remind Seto what the problem was, but since the elder Kaiba only trusted the younger one to give him his monthly reports, this was a job Mokuba had to do.

"It's because there are more girls these days, Seto," Mokuba replied patiently as he threw a manila file across the glass desktop to his brother.

Seto picked up the file and relaxed his chair back as he lazily opened it. Unless Pegasus himself had created a new type of game along with a completely new satellite imaging system, he had never expected to be beaten. Ever.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked as his blue eyes rose and stopped on Mokuba. He glanced at the last page of the file, awaiting Mokuba's response. But he didn't wait for an answer for when he saw the name of the gaming technology that was beating out KaibaCorp, he nearly choked. Seto immediately straightened his posture, lowered his eyes, furrowed his eyebrows and nearly pulled his hair out as he ruffled his it.

Mokuba smirked. "I thought you were taking the news quite well, actually."

Eyes still lowered, Kaiba looked back at Mokuba furiously. "Well that's when I thought someone with a brain invented some type of new, superior technology, not …." Kaiba looked away and turned the chair so that Mokuba was now facing his back.

"Saying the name will help you cope with losing," Mokuba said amusedly.

"I don't believe it."

"The proof's right there."

"It's not possible."

"Well, I told you the problem a while ago--"

"How could this happen?"

"It's the girls--"

"That company was hardly ever heard of. This is just insane."

Mokuba had to keep from grinding his teeth. Why was his brother always so stubborn with these things? This was why they were "losing". Seto had a problem, Mokuba had the solution, but no…Seto always had to do things his way and complicate the matter all the more. "If you _listened_ to me for a minute instead of ranting on in hatred, maybe we could get KaibaCorp the number one spot again."

There was a silence for a few seconds where all that could be heard in the room was the soft buzzing of the ventilation system. But finally, Kaiba turned around and looked at his brother with an eyebrow raised.

"You think I'm ranting on in hatred? I'm simply asking myself how a no good punk like Duke _Devlin_ could create a technology so amazing it knocked the special effects of KaibaCorp off the charts."

Mokuba paused for a second, wondering if he even wanted to explain this again to his brother. "Devlin's technology….is more…feminine," Mokuba said, choosing his words carefully.

Kaiba smirked, "Well the guy practically looks like a girl himself…" This remark caused Mokuba to roll his eyes.

"I thought you wanted to make KaibaCorp productive, Seto."

"I do, but you see _Dungeon Dice Monsters _is not a worthy opponent. This problem can be fixed shortly, the very word that will describe Devlin's reign at number one."

"Do you want to know how he got to number one in the first place?"

"Humor me," Kaiba said as he swiveled his chair around, grabbing his laptop in the process. "What's Devlin done to make people like his gaming technology?"

"Not people, Seto, _girls_," Mokuba corrected over the sound of the elder Kaiba's quick typing. He wasn't taking this seriously, Mokuba noted. But perhaps that was because of Seto's excess amount of self confidence.

"Girls?" Kaiba asked slowly as he turned around and faced Mokuba, clicking down the screen of his laptop. "They're the minority gender in duel monsters."

"Exactly! Duke figured out that problem and designed a brand new ad campaign specifically targeted at girls!" Mokuba told this to his brother a year ago, at least, but then again Mokuba's idea was more of a light suggestion that he doubted Seto took seriously.

Kaiba remembered Mokuba telling him this a while ago. "How…though…he's a newcomer in the world of business."

Kaiba was no fool. Devlin, that ridiculous Pegasus lover, had just introduced his demented version of duel monsters a little over two years ago. The fact that in that time, he overtook KaibaCorp _and_ Industrial Illusions, with the experience of an amateur, was quite impressive, though Kaiba would never admit that.

"I know you're surprised," Mokuba said as he pointed his fingers at Seto's raised eyes (which caused the elder Kaiba to lower them defensively). "But his way to attract girls to the game was simple, yet highly effective…"

"That's been established. What exactly was his campaign?"

"Commercials," Mokuba sighed as he got up from his chair. He paced back and forth in front of his brother, thinking of ways to help regain KaibaCorp's status while in the meantime, his brother was left thinking heavily at his desk.

Kaiba greatly recalled those commercials…They were often on, even during the minimal minutes a week Kaiba had time to pay attention to the media. There were radio advertisements, large ads on buildings, magazine pull outs, etc. He had spared no form of advertisement. But then again, every business out there did that. KaibaCorp did that…so why then was Devlin so successful? Surely not because his ads called girls? No…that didn't make sense.

His ads, although aplenty, were not lovely. They were not terribly appealing, and they certainly didn't look like much money was spent on them. All they did was, to the best recollection of his memory, featured the same girl tossing a pair of dice into the air, holding out a hand of cards, smiling as she played weak yet pretty faeries…It was that same girl, doing things commonly associated with Devlin's "sham" of a game…

"The model," Kaiba breathed, his eyes looking wanderlust with realization.

"The model," Mokuba said as he stopped pacing. The two brothers looked at each other, or better yet Seto looked at Mokuba for Mokuba had suddenly fallen in love with his feet.

"Do you know who Devlin's model was? She must have been what made girls like the game….she must have been a respected figure for young girls," Kaiba said, eyes lowered as he thought of the possibilities of that model with KaibaCorp.

"Yeah, she's gotten pretty popular," Mokuba said tentatively. "But why use what Devlin used? We can get someone better." Mokuba's voice was weak, leading Kaiba to know that there was something he missed about this model.

"Who is she? Do you know?" he asked, knowing the answer to the second question, but wondering if Mokuba would give him one.

"If I mentioned her name--her first name--you wouldn't recognize her."

"Well then, can I have her name?"

"Shouldn't we do what Devlin did? Get a newcomer model and use--"

"No, that's risking too much on someone new to the field," Kaiba explained as he closed his eyes impatiently. "And this model was a newcomer when she started to work with Devlin? How much more about this girl aren't you telling me?" Kaiba asked, opening up his eyes and his laptop and threatening Mokuba with a threat of Googling the answer.

"She became popular with the girls with her first major gig, which was working with Devlin," Mokuba explained.

"If she accepted a job from Devlin, how can she resist one from KaibaCorp? It's an uprising to better opportunities." Kaiba knew that Mokuba had a point in not choosing the model Devlin used, but how wonderfully cruel and evil would it be for Kaiba to beat out Devlin using the model Duke had first hired? It was pure genius in Kaiba's mind.

Mokuba didn't answer for a couple of minutes. He just stood there, looking here and there but not at Kaiba. Finally he spoke.

"I'll setup an appointment with you and the model as soon as possible," Mokuba explained in little more than a whisper. "I'll go contact her immediately." And with that said, Mokuba turned around and started to leave the office, but when Seto called out:

"What's her name, Mokuba?"

Mokuba turned around, half his body out the doors of the office, and with the ghost of a smile he answered, "Her modeling name is Shizuka."

-

-

Serenity nodded her head and sipped her water bottle, not having a clue about what the man in front of her was saying. All she knew was that Duke had called her at 4 am that very morning, scolding her for forgetting their **very** early scheduled meeting. And still, four hours into the meeting, Serenity was not getting into the swing of things. What started as a favor to help Duke get Dungeon Dice Monsters out there became a full-time job for her, and Duke was no easy boss.

"Imagine the possibilities, Miss Wheeler," the man in a suit explained to her from across the table, banging his fists excitedly against the wood of the oblong counter. "We've just mapped out the rest of your career for you in a mere few minutes."

Try 240 minutes, Serenity thought dryly as she looked to her left and noticed Duke looking at her encouragingly. He had helped raise her to such a status, just like she did for him. They helped each other, but while Duke was still trying to push Serenity onwards, Serenity was just trying to get through third year of high school. She felt something touch her hand, and found Duke's hand squeezing hers. She smiled weakly as she pulled her hand away and kept from looking at him. Perhaps today would be the day she told him…

She didn't want to be a model for him anymore.

-

Thankfully the meeting ended shortly after that, and Serenity and Duke started walking around the premises of Duke's building, finding a need to stretch their legs after sitting down for so long.

While walking down one of the building's corridors, Serenity realized that she had a science midterm tomorrow…but she _did_ have a photo-shoot this afternoon. Maybe Duke, her self-proclaimed agent, would reschedule the shoot so she could cram in some studying.

Look at me, Serenity smirked, I'd rather study than go get my picture taken. What kind of model am I? I'm lucky Duke even lets me go to school.

She picked up her pace a little and brushed past Duke in the hallway. She was often, unintentionally, furious at Duke, remembering how she got into modeling in the first place.

He had spent his budget on an ad campaign, but no one to model the campaign, and commercials would be very boring without people, especially commercials advertising a game. So when Téa and Mai refused, Duke turned to Serenity in desperation. Serenity, thinking that it would be some few, short commercials, agreed. However, neither Duke nor Serenity could have possibly expected the popularity that Serenity got from doing these commercials. Duke said it was because Serenity was just destined to be a model.

Her commercials were being requested everywhere, even the radio ones. Serenity never figured out why she got so big, but in the beginning she thought it could be fun. But she didn't want the world to know her as 'Serenity Wheeler', thinking that would be a little too personal. So that's when Duke came up with the Japanese translation, and thus Shizuka, the fun-loving part time model was born.

But then she had trouble going out in public with her friends; rich, popular girls who made fun of her suddenly begged to be her friend; she hardly got to spend time with her brother anymore, what with her constantly being dragged to meetings, shoots, shows, etc.

She got bored easily, and her body language showed this as she lazily sauntered down the hall.

"How are you not excited?" Duke asked as Serenity walked past him slowly down the hallway.

"What makes you think I'm not?" Serenity asked, deciding that the moment would soon come when she had to tell him the truth.

"I don't know…you just don't look very happy," He said quietly. He had always been oblivious to the way Serenity felt on the modeling issue.

"A whole career in modeling," Serenity just suddenly spit out, her back still facing Duke while her hands tightened into little fists. "I never thought it'd come to this."

"That's the beauty of it all," Duke explained as he came up to Serenity, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're a star, and you're all mine…" As he said this, Serenity turned her head to face Duke, eyebrows raised. "I mean you're a part of Dungeon Dice Monsters now! You're its trademark, yeah!" Duke supplied quickly.

An awkward silence past as Serenity carefully tried to word her verbal resignation, feeling the moment was right, and Duke waited for her reply quietly. Just as Serenity opened her mouth to say something, Duke's secretary ran down the hall, a phone in her hands.

"It's a Mr. Kaiba from KaibaCorp," she said, holding out the phone. "He wants to speak with you."

"Of course he does," Duke said, flicking back a lock of his black hair. "He probably just got the report that Dungeon Dice Monsters has become more popular than normal duel monsters, and that means my technology beat out his!" He made a grab for the phone, but the secretary held it back from him.

"He wants to speak with umm…Shizuka," She explained, giving the phone to Serenity.

"Me?" Serenity asked. The secretary nodded. "Well better not keep him waiting."

"What does he want?" Duke asked the secretary. The girl shrugged and explained that the person on the phone insisted on speaking with Serenity.

"Hello?" Serenity spoke into the receiver. "Mr. Kaiba?"

"That's my brother," Mokuba's voice was heard laughing. "Serenity, you can just call me Mokuba."

Serenity felt a bit of relief wash over her for Mokuba was much easier to talk to than his brother. "Hey, long time no see?" And Serenity and Mokuba became engaged in small talk while Duke tried to eavesdrop jealously, still under the impression that it was Seto on the phone.

"Since when is she on such friendly terms with Kaiba?" Duke asked to no one in particular.

A few moments passed, and by then Duke was seething. He walked around to Serenity and looked impatiently at her.

"Ask him what he wants!" Duke exclaimed, waving his hands like wings in front of Serenity. Serenity rolled her eyes and sighed. "Any special reason you called?"

"Well, yes actually…" Mokuba suddenly became quiet.

"Well?" Serenity encouraged. Duke pressed his ear to the receiver to finally hear what was going on.

"My brother wants to meet you--I mean, he wants to meet Shizuka," Mokuba explained.

Duke looked confused. It was Mokuba speaking this whole time?

"What for?"

"He just wants to see who this Shizuka girl is," Mokuba said.

"Doesn't he remember me from Battle City?" Serenity asked indignantly.

"You see, there's the problem," Mokuba started to say, "He doesn't know the infamous Shizuka is you, Serenity Wheeler, a.k.a. Joey Wheeler's sister."

A few seconds of silence passed as Duke and Serenity took this in.

"He doesn't?" Serenity asked.

"HE DOESN'T!" Duke looked like a kid on Christmas. He looked at Serenity and mouthed to her that she would go and meet Kaiba that afternoon.

"But I don't want to," Serenity mouthed back. "I have studying to do."

"And?" Duke asked, using a voice and not mouthing.

"Well, don't I also have a photo-shoot to get to?"

"We can reschedule that, but first we're going to go and meet Kaiba!" Duke explained.

"Do they know I'm hearing all of this?" Mokuba, who still had the phone in his hands, asked himself.

After a few minutes of quarreling and phone snatching, Duke was able to get the phone from Serenity.

"Listen, we're going to come to KaibaCorp as soon as possible, so you just be ready!" Duke yelled, and then he finally hung up the phone. He had a smirk on his face, feeling like a powerful lion, but when he saw the evil eyes Serenity was giving him, he felt more like a feeble mouse.

"Let's just go," Serenity said exasperatedly.

-

"Good news, Seto," Mokuba said, entering his brother's office.

Kaiba looked up from his laptop for a second, acknowledging Mokuba's presence, then returned to typing.

"I got an appointment with Shizuka," Mokuba informed. Kaiba stopped typing for a second, taking the news in, but he returned to his laptop and lazily asked when.

"As soon as it takes them to get hear," Mokuba said sheepishly. He wondered what his brother would do once he found out the identity of Shizuka.

This time Kaiba closed his laptop and leaned back in his executive chair. He touched his fingertips with one another and hissed, "Excellent."

-

"I don't see why you're so interested in speaking with Kaiba," Serenity explained as she seated herself in the back of Duke's Dungeon Dice Monsters limo (which, by the way, her commercials' profits paid for).

"Don't you know why he wants to see you?" Duke asked as he sat down across from Serenity.

"No," Serenity admitted, although she had a hunch.

"He wants to use you as his model!" Duke exclaimed angrily. The limo started moving through the streets of Domino, and as Duke ranted on and on about how he was going to love the look on Kaiba's face when he found out who Shizuka was, Serenity watched the kids play in the park, walk on the streets, hang out in parlors and restaurants. The common folk had no idea that their everyday lives were much more exciting than the one the great Shizuka was living.

"--I mean, how could he have never noticed the model from the commercials was you? When we deny him…oh, it'll be so perfect!" Duke punched his fist into his other hand's palm.

"When he finds out Shizuka is me, he won't really care. He'll never accept a Wheeler into his commercials," Serenity reminded as she turned her attention to Duke.

"We'll see how long we can make him talk to us. Every second will be better than the last. To think, he thought he had a chance of getting you to model for KaibaCorp. Fool," Duke taunted as Serenity turned her attention back to the people of Domino and sighed.

"Duke, this is stupid…I don't care much for fooling Kaiba," Serenity said inaudibly, knowing that Duke wouldn't care much even if he had heard.

-

-

Nearly an hour later, Mokuba and Kaiba were still waiting in Kaiba's office, each one slightly nervous.

Mokuba just wanted to make sure Mt. Seto wouldn't go off when Serenity was revealed, and Kaiba just wanted to meet this model, this famous girl and see if she would accept his offer, which he knew she couldn't resist.

"You said she was on her way." Seto looked at Mokuba angrily. He was a busy man and did not have time to waste.

"Traffic?" Mokuba suggested nervously. Kaiba swiveled his chair around in frustration, and Mokuba took this as his cue to leave the office.

As Mokuba left his office, he came into the secretary's space. The secretary was busy talking on the phone with someone, but as soon as she saw Mokuba come in, she hung up the phone.

"That was security. Mr. Devlin and the girl have just arrived. Is Mr. Kaiba ready?" She asked Mokuba.

Mokuba quickly nodded his head. He looked at the elevators, which were right outside the secretary's door. After what seemed like eons of waiting, Duke finally stepped out of an elevator, and a girl wearing a hat, who Mokuba assumed was Serenity, quickly followed.

As they approached the secretary's desk, Mokuba cried, "Finally! Where have you two been? The traffic wasn't _that_ bad, was it?"

Serenity rolled her eyes, although with her hat on Mokuba couldn't see that. "Duke here insisted we go buy a hat."

"It adds to the suspense," Duke explained. "You didn't tell him did you?" He asked Mokuba worriedly.

"Not without any witnesses around," Mokuba explained. Mokuba gestured for the two of them to follow him, though Serenity could not see a thing, especially with the way Duke made her tilt her hat so that her face was covered.

Mokuba ran into his brother's office and said, "Voila," as Duke entered the room.

"Kaiba!" Duke cried, clapping his hands together.

"Devlin," Kaiba replied, standing up and placing his palms on his desk. "I don't remember inviting you."

"Certainly you didn't think I'd let my gem go to you without me to protect her?" Duke asked innocently.

"Am I some sort of monster?" Kaiba sneered, eyes lowered.

"You don't want the answer to that," Mokuba whispered.

"Where is your 'gem' anyway?" Kaiba asked, ignoring Mokuba. "You did bring her, didn't you?" He asked as he looked around the office. Where was this Shizuka girl?

"If you really want to see her that badly, well, come in, Shizuka darling," Duke said. A second later, a girl appeared in Kaiba's door, dressed like she came out of a summer scene with her pink sweater suit on and large hat tilted on her face mysteriously. She had lengthy brown hair, the only feature he could make out of the girl.

"Come, Shizuka," Duke took Serenity's wrist and walked her over to Kaiba's desk. Kaiba, still trying to see the face under the hat, gestured for the two to sit down.

"Are you going to let me see her face?" Kaiba asked when they were all seated.

"Oh, but Kaiba, aren't you going to congratulate me first? It's not easy to bump KaibaCorp out of the number one position, you know?"

"Devlin--" Kaiba started, but Mokuba quickly hissed "Seto!" and pointed his eyes in Shizuka's direction. It took Kaiba a while, but finally he mustered up the strength to say "Congratulations, Devlin."

"What?" Duke asked. "I couldn't quite hear you."

"Congratulations, Devlin," Kaiba repeated again. Devlin was pushing him.

"What? Sorry, I still couldn't hear you."

"Duke!" Serenity exclaimed quietly.

"Oh, so she does talk," Kaiba said as he turned his attention on Serenity. He was thinking he could coax Serenity out of that hat, since he got the notion Duke wouldn't let it come off anytime soon. "I'm sure you have a very pretty face," Kaiba said to Shizuka, knowing that he could make the insides of any girl melt. "Why don't you take off that hat so I can see it?" He didn't give out compliments often, and especially not to some girl he just met, so this better have been one really good model.

Duke stifled his laughter while Mokuba tried to hide his smile. If only Seto knew who he was complimenting!

Serenity was still waiting for Duke's signal to take off her hat, so she said nothing.

"Go on, Shizuka, take of your hat so that Mr. Kaiba can see your 'very pretty face'," Duke urged, his voice cracking with amusement.

"Yeah, my brother's been waiting a while to see you," Mokuba said, his smile getting slightly wider.

Kaiba wondered what Devlin and Mokuba were up to…Suddenly getting Shizuka to come didn't seem like such a good idea. Nevertheless, he still had to find out who this girl was.

"Very well then," Serenity said quietly. She touched the brim of her hat for a second, then quickly pulled it off, revealing her face, red from the compliment she had just received.

Kaiba's first reaction to her face was bandages. She had bandages on her face once, yes. But that meant Kaiba had met her before…Where did he see her with bandages. It was when Joey was dueling against Yugi. The whole gang was there, well except for Devlin and Tristan, who arrived with---her! Her name was Serenity, that much he was sure of, or something like that. They brought her there. But who was she again? She was on the blimp, he thought, during the Battle City tournament. She was there because she….wanted to see her brother duel! Yes, that was it. But her brother? It wasn't Devlin or Tristan, and Yugi didn't have a sister….No…that meant that she was…

Kaiba's eyes widened as he looked upon the face of Shizuka, otherwise known as Wheeler's sister Serenity. He looked at Devlin, who was beaming, and Mokuba, standing beside him, looking down so that Seto wouldn't see his laughing. So that was their secret this whole time. Revealing Serenity was the only reason Devlin had even showed up.

He glared at Serenity as he thought, two could play at that game.

"Devlin, Mokuba, I need time with Miss Wheeler alone," He said, his eyes never leaving Serenity's now-fearful face.

"No way! I can't trust you with her, especially all by yourself!" Duke yelled.

"Mokuba, give Devlin a tour or something, or else I'll have him kicked off the premises," Kaiba explained, still looking at Serenity.

"Serenity?" Duke asked, as Mokuba tugged on his arm. Serenity's color had gone the moment Kaiba had cast his eyes upon her. Darn that Duke for bringing her here…What was Kaiba planning on doing with her?

Every second certainly did not seem better than the last, Serenity thought.

"It's ok," Serenity replied with somewhat of a choked voice. "You go with Mokuba. I'll talk with Mr. Kaiba."

"You're still not serious about using her for KaibaCorp?" Duke asked, as Mokuba continued the tugging on his arm. "You're actually going to use a _Wheeler_ for your advertisements? Don't you think that might make your company a little less popular?"

The instant Duke said those words he wished they would return to him. He hadn't meant to say what he did, or at least not in those words.

Kaiba smirked. He knew Duke had upset Serenity.

Serenity knew what Duke was trying to say, but the fact that he wanted to say it was still a little offensive. And the way it came out…that was a whole another story.

"It's ok, Duke," Serenity repeated, her voice more sturdy, "I'll be just fine."

So eventually, Mokuba was able to pull Duke out of the office and give him the grand tour.

Kaiba walked around his desk and past Serenity. Serenity turned around in her chair and saw him close his office's door. Though Serenity was brimming with fear, all she did was toy with her hat in her hands.

"You and Devlin planned this whole thing didn't you?" Kaiba asked, leaning across his door. Serenity looked down. Although he was definitely trying to scare her, he still looked very handsome like that, and blushing like a fan girl was not something she wanted to do in front of him.

"Not so much me than Duke," she explained, her voice a small whisper.

"I see…so Devlin just wanted to surprise me, didn't he? He tried to fool me, right?" He asked as he came up to her chair. Serenity nodded. "I thought so." And Kaiba walked around her and returned to his chair.

"But he has no idea what I'm willing to do to regain KaibaCorp's status," Kaiba said slyly. Serenity turned her face up to look at Kaiba so quickly that she felt whiplash in her neck but decided to ignore it.

"What exactly _are_ you willing to do?" she asked quietly, her eyes wide with fear.

"Do you want a modeling job at KaibaCorp?" He asked quickly, trying to avoid small talk.

Serenity was in shock for a split-second. Her eyes inspected the man sitting before her thoroughly before she cast them down, her thumb and index finger pressed on her lips. She liked modeling before Duke made it a full-time job. But Kaiba would probably push her harder, trying to knock Duke out of the competition.

"I'm in no hurry to wipe Devlin out yet," Kaiba explained, as if reading her mind. "I'll let him enjoy being number one, and then I'll…" he trailed off, now looking at Serenity. "But that, of course, won't be possible without Shizuka's help."

"I have school," Serenity supplied. He was certainly getting her attention. Perhaps if Duke took his time with her and didn't overwork her, Serenity would still love to model.

"We can work around that," Kaiba answered. "I know you want this job, and you're not old enough to be held to a contract from Devlin are you?"

Serenity shook her head. "No, but still…Duke's the reason I'm a celebrity. I owe him."

"You're the reason you're a celebrity," Kaiba explained. "Don't you realize you would've skyrocketed if you did any other form of advertisement? You made Devlin famous, not the other way around. Devlin got the better half of you working with him, in my opinion."

Serenity stared at the man. He was certainly making very good points, and complimenting her along the way, but that was only to get her to stray away from Duke. "I can't do it. He's a good friend of mine."

"He's also the reason you hate being a model, isn't it?" Serenity looked at Kaiba with shock. How did he know?

"The excuses you keep making up aren't because of loyalty to Devlin, it's because Devlin overworked you to get where he is today. Doesn't seem very nice does it?"

Serenity still looked at the man before her with shock. Was he right? Did she really not want to model for Kaiba because she was furious at Duke for making her hate modeling? She thought she really was being loyal.

Kaiba saw the inner debate going on in her mind. He knew that he had to strike while the iron was hot.

"I can't help you destroy Dungeon Dice Monsters, though," Serenity told him quietly. "I just can't."

"Well, I was planning a special commercial for the great Shizuka. It's not meant to draw people's attention away from Devlin, just to make them notice something new…" Kaiba reached into his desk and pulled out a file, and slid it over to Serenity who looked at Kaiba cautiously before reading it.

"The Blue Eyes dome?" She asked, her eyes darting across the paper. "You want to use me for this?"

Kaiba nodded. "It's just telling people to visit the greatest arena ever built, that's all. Not take audiences away from Dungeon Dice Monsters."

A bit cocky, Serenity thought, but this did seem fun. But would it hurt Duke? He was still a good friend to her.

"Just promise me this, you'll think about it?" Kaiba asked. Serenity finished reading the file and closed it.

"When is the opening?" She asked.

"Six months from now…plenty of time to shoot a couple of commercials."

The offer definitely did seem tempting to Serenity. "What kind of commercials?"

"I haven't worked out the details just yet," Kaiba told her. "All I know is that they're supposed to attract young girls, which is what you've been doing for Devlin. If you want a sense of what you might have to do in these commercials, ask my business partner."

"Your part--Mokuba?"

"Who better."

Serenity stood up quickly as she placed her hat over her head again, just the way it was tilted when she first came in. Kaiba quickly followed suit.

"Congratulations, Mr. Kaiba, you've won my attention. I'll go for KaibaCorp, just as long as you adhere to my condition," she said.

"Which is?"

"You won't go after Dungeon Dice Monsters," she informed.

Kaiba thought that Serenity might be going insane. The reason he called her here was to ruin Devlin…but he had a feeling he knew what she meant. He would use her strictly for the Dome's opening, and nothing else.

"Very well, Wheeler," he said quietly, mentally devising a plan.

Serenity laughed. "Wheeler is my brother, Kaiba. Call me Serenity." She held her hand over Kaiba's desk.

Kaiba looked at the hand, surprised she was agreeing to his deal but nevertheless pleased.

He took her hand and shook it, and he had to agree that every second was starting to seem better than the last.

Serenity drew back her hand and thought for a moment…He was being _too_ easy to persuade.

Kaiba stared back at the girl, thinking while smirking as well: Serenity was too easily deceived.

It was then Kaiba noticed the figure standing in the doorway…

"Serenity! I saw the whole thing! Don't tell me you _agreed_!"

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_Good? Bad? Never to be seen again?_

Please tell me, since I don't want to waste time writing a fic nobody will read.

But please Read/Review. I love feedback!


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